Many different types of carriers have been employed to package beverage cans. Most types, however, are merely variations of either fully enclosed sleeve-type carriers or wrap-around carriers. Wrap-around carriers are used to package relatively small numbers of cans, typically holding groups of six or eight. They are usually less expensive than sleeve-type carriers since their open-ended construction requires less material than a fully enclosed carrier. Sleeve-type carriers are commonly employed to package larger numbers of cans, typically twelve or more. In both cases the cans or other packaged articles are arranged in two or more adjacent rows, with each row containing an equal number of articles. This results in carriers of conventional rectilinear shape which include rectangular side panels, top panels and bottom panels.
Such carriers have a number of advantages. They are convenient to carry and consumers are accustomed to using and handling them. Further, they can be easily grouped and stacked for shipping and display.
Regardless of any improvements which may be made to the design of the carriers, the extent to which the amount of paperboard or other material used to fabricate them may be reduced is limited by the parameters of their basic rectilinear design. Also, the flat bottom panel of many of these carriers is typically formed from two flaps which must be tightly connected, often by mechanical locks, so as to be able to support the weight of the packaged articles. This increases the cost of packaging machines, since they have to be provided with mechanical elements and controls to automatically connect the locks, and limits the speed at which the machines can be run.
It is an object of the invention to provide a carrier which can be used to package beverage cans or other articles, but which does not have the drawbacks discussed above.